Amsterdam is well-known for its beautiful architecture, the canals and its beautiful tulip decorations each spring. I visited Amsterdam last April and fell in love with the city. Sadly, I didn’t have the time to check out the countryside of the Netherlands, but I’d like to tell you more about my three days in the city.

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Before our departure, I booked an Airbnb close to the old part of the city. The location was perfect for walking to the centre by foot. But there’s also a very well-connected public transport system in Amsterdam that takes you everywhere you want to go and explore. On our first day in Amsterdam we decided to buy an Iamsterdam Card. This includes the entry to many museums, discounts in shops, restaurants and cafès and public transport once it’s activated. We bought the pass that’s valid for 24 hours and activated it in the early afternoon, which allowed us to do some museums and attractions in the afternoon as well as the following morning. The pass is not cheap, but if you’re planning to go to a lot of museums it’s definitely worth it since you save a lot of money and time as you don’t have to queue for tickets at every single museum. The card can be bought in stores in Amsterdam or online in advance.
We went to the houseboat museum, the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum. I would have loved to also check out the Rembrandt House Museum but sadly we didn’t have enough time (and energy – visiting museums is time and energy consuming!) to fit it into these 24 hours. Out of all the museums, the Van Gogh Museum was my absolute favorite. If you like art and Van Gogh’s unique styles and painting techniques, you should definitely check it out. The houseboat museum is different to what we expected – it’s a single house boat that used to house people but now serves as the museum. The owner was super friendly and explained everything about the boat to us. The Rijksmuseum was a classic museum about the history, nature and culture of Amsterdam and The Netherlands. We loved walking around in the huge building and enjoying the exhibitions.

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Since you can’t spend a whole day inside museums, we decided to make good use of the Iamsterdam Card and checked out various cafès that offered discounts when showing the card. One of our favorites was a cafè called PANCAKES Amsterdam Centraal. We enjoyed some delicious pancakes Amsterdam is well-known for. You can either order from their amazing menu (offering Dutch and American style pancakes) or create your own by choosing which toppings to put on our Dutch pancake. Since we were too full to try Poffertjes (fluffy mini pancakes) we decided to get these from a shop along the streets later that day. 
After we finished our next museum tour, we decided to go on a canal cruise. Since the ride is included in the Iamsterdam Card we did not want to miss the opportunity to get on one. And it was truly amazing. The tour took us along the canals and we passed some very interesting buildings like the Anne Frank house and the Stadsarchief (state archives). We also caught a first glance at the flower market which we went to later that day.

Amsterdam is definitely worth a visit. We went at the beginning of April, but I would recommend booking a trip more towards the end of April or early May to fully enjoy the beautiful tulips that make Amsterdam even prettier than it is all year round.